Harper with Paul Newman a Post-Noir Gem from 1966

Aug 6, 2011
Barry M. Grey

Paul Newman is Harper, movie poster - Image © Warner Home Video, courtesy Moviegoods.com

When great films of the 1960s are discussed, Harper usually gets short shrift. That's a shame, because this detective tale is easily among the era's best.

Harper, the Paul Newman post-noir picture, is based on 1949’s The Moving Target, the first of author Ross Macdonald’s 18 Lew Archer detective novels. Screenwriter William Goldman updated the story to then-present day (1966) Los Angeles.

Harper Recalls Noir Classic The Big Sleep

According to TCM.com, the film’s (and title character’s) name change came at Newman’s mildly superstitious request. The actor enjoyed big ‘60s hits with The Hustler and Hud, and hoped another “H” title would make a nice trifecta.

In many ways, Harper echoes vintage films noir, particularly 1946’s The Big Sleep. Makes you wonder how much more Harper might have resembled Sleep had Goldman retained the novel’s postwar setting.

Both films begin with the detective-hero arriving at the gates of a wealthy man’s estate. In Sleep, wheelchair-bound General Sternwood hires Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) for a sensitive investigation involving one of his daughters. In Harper, glamorous, bitchy, wheelchair-bound Elaine Sampson hires Lew Harper (Newman) to track down her missing millionaire husband, Ralph.

Elaine is played by Lauren Bacall, who just happened to portray Sternwood’s more sensible daughter in the 1946 classic.

Los Angeles: Land of Nut Jobs

Each film cast a jaundiced eye on the wacko, corrupt fringe cultures of Los Angeles. Harper, in particular, plays on the common perception of L.A. as the land of misfits and nut-jobs, represented by the religious cult led by lead nut job Strother Martin.

And in both films, the plot gets muddled to the point of audience disinterest. In Harper, you meet a lot of disparate characters – but lose focus on how they relate to each other or to the private detective’s investigation itself.

But who cares? It’s the personalities and the assumption of an advancing story that propel each picture.

Harper May Be Wryest Detective Film Ever

There's one distinct difference between the films. The Big Sleep is occasionally funny but is mostly a hard-boiled piece of pulp fiction. Harper, on the other hand, is nearly a 50-50 split between intrigue and laugh out loud sarcasm.

In fact, there are so many refreshingly funny moments that Harper almost seems schizoid. That the humor is so seamlessly woven into the storyline is a credit to rookie screenwriter William Goldman, who three years later would reunite with Newman for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Suffering no fools, the deadpan Harper gets most of the best lines. To wit:

Of Harold Gould’s dullard sheriff, he observes, “I used to be a sheriff – til I passed my literacy test.”

And there’s an exchange with a dour bartender:

Harper: “Keep the change.”

Bartender: “There is no change.”

Harper: “Keep it anyway.”

Harper's Opening Scene a Happy Accident

Curiously, Goldman’s memorable opening sequence was a last-minute throw-in. Filming was well underway when he received a panicked request for a scene to cover the opening credits.

Huh? Goldman thought he’d started the picture just fine – by having Harper pull up to the Sampson estate.

According to William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade, “So in desperation, I decided, what the hell, he had to get up in the morning, everybody gets up in the morning, what’s special about our guy?”

He opened with Lew Harper waking up on a fold-out sofa in his crummy office. Eying an empty coffee can, the groggy gumshoe fishes from the trash yesterday’s soggy coffee filter and grounds.

Moments later, a sip of the bastard brew produces a memorably funny wince, which kick-starts the film and establishes the overall tone.

What Goldman inadvertently accomplished was to instantly define Lew Harper’s character – a guy who may be struggling but also is likable, sympathetic and someone with whom we can identify.

All this during the opening credits.

Lew Harper on Quest to Find Millionaire

The framework of Harper’s story is simple:

The unflappable detective assumes Ralph Sampson, missing for all of 24 hours, has been kidnapped. Thus we follow Harper’s search for the millionaire, which eventually involves a ransom and many odd, outrageous characters.

And what a great ensemble cast to play them. Beyond Bacall, there’s Arthur Hill as the Sampsons’ sweetly-lecherous attorney; he has a thing for Sampson’s sexy, spoiled, bikini-clad, go-go dancing daughter, played by Pamela Tiffin.

Julie Harris has a nice turn as a junkie jazz singer involved with Robert Wagner, who’s (quite surprisingly) good as Sampson’s goofy private pilot (“detective work is fun!”) and general flunkie.

Shelley Winters is Great Fun as Faded Starlet

Janet Leigh plays Harper’s estranged and angry, yet seduceable wife. Harold Gould is the dim sheriff, and Shelley Winters is hilarious as a fat, faded starlet. (Winters deserves kudos for tossing all vanity aside.) Robert Webber is suitably oily as her scheming husband.

Harper also boasts the great character actor Strother Martin as the phony New Age mountaintop evangelist, who spouts such amusingly empty aphorisms as "Walk with love." Both Gould and Martin would enjoy memorable roles in later Newman films.

In Cool Hand Luke, Martin's ironic line, “What we have here is…failure to communicate,” became a slogan of the '60s counterculture. Six years later, the versatile Gould would appear among the gifted grifters of 1973’s Best Picture Oscar winner, The Sting.

Los Angeles Plays Itself in Harper

Harper also serves as a time capsule of mid-'60s Los Angeles. Thanks to generous location shooting, we see the Mulholland Drive bridge over the 405 freeway – torn down during 2011’s notorious “Carmageddon” weekend; historic Palisades Park along the ocean bluffs in Santa Monica; the nearby Miramar hotel; and general shots of the L.A. landscape.

Harper's Virtues Outweigh Problems

These days, Harper seems a bit frayed around the edges. Johnny Mandel’s score is dated, the music cues sounding very episodic TV-ish. And rear-screen process shots in driving scenes seem hokey and artificial, perhaps reflecting director Jack Smight’s long background in television.

But these distractions don’t undermine the film’s essential wit and intelligence. Harper is a canny, fast-moving hoot. Besides cementing Paul Newman’s place as a great movie anti-hero and showcasing an excellent ensemble, it’s just a flat-out great ride.